1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to generating and customizing maps.
2. Background
A geographic information system (GIS) is used to store, retrieve, and manipulate data that has been stored and indexed according to geographic coordinates. Typical geographic information systems support the display of information associated with specific geographic coordinates where such information is categorized into various layers representing differing levels of detail. Such information can represent such detail as specific addresses at a low layer level and at higher levels data such as the name of the neighborhood, the associated city, county, state, and country.
A user of such geographic information may desire to create a customized map showing a particular feature or highlighting selective information associated with a select area. For example, a television news team may wish to show a map of an area that contains a river that is about to flood and indicate to the viewers the names and locations of the particular towns that are expected to be impacted by the expected flooding. Currently, to create such a map involves a fair amount of time while the user identifies the desired area to be mapped, the desired level of layer of information in a GIS database that is desired to be shown, and then create the desired placemarks and associated labels to convey the desired information to the target audience. While GIS systems can store vast amounts of data, quickly creating customized content for a map is a time consuming task.